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Sfcjjeafttng tt>t Evutt) in &ob*. 



SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE; 
THE SPIRIT OF THE CHURCH, 
AND THE DUTY OF HER MINISTERS: 



BEFORE THE CLERGY OF THE NORTHERN CONVOCATION 



OF THE DIOCESE OF NEW JERSEY, 



IN ST. MATTHEW S CHURCH, JERSEY CITY, 



SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1838, 



THE RT. REV. GEORGE WASHINGTON DOANE, D.D. 3 

BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE. 



BURLINGTON: 
J. L. rOWKIl, MISSIONARY PKES 



M DCCC XXXVIII. 



Jersey City, Nov. 17, 1838. 

Rt. Rev. and Dear Sir, 

The undersigned, the Clergy attending the Convocation of 
the Northern Visitation of the diocese, anxious that the sound prin- 
ciples so clearly embodied in your highly instructive discourse of 
this morning, should be as widely circulated as possible, beg leave 
to request a copy for publication. 



Edmusd D. Babrt, 
M. H. Henderson, 
Peter L. Jaqjctes, 
Richard Channing Moore, 
F. Ogilet, 
Henry Burroughs, 



J. M. Ward, 
Smith Pyne, 
Reuben J. Germain, 
James A. Williams, 
William Staunton, 
Robt. Davies, 



William Croes Crane. 



SERMON. 



SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE. 

Indifference to truth is the prevailing error of the 
age. To be zealous for it, is to incur the charge of 
narrow-mindedness, exclusiveness and bigotry. It is 
enough if men be sincere, even though it be in error. 
To be charitable is now the fashion. And so broadly 
and strongly has the distinction been drawn, that 
truth and charity are almost made to appear an- 
tagonist principles. But can it indeed be so ? Is 
not the Lord " the God of truth ? " Is it not the wise 
man's precept, "buy the truth, and sell it not?" 
Was it not recorded to the disgrace of some of old 
time, that they were " not valiant for the truth upon 
the earth ? " Was it not the Aioostle Jude's exhorta- 
tion to them that are " sanctified by God the Father, 
and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called," that they 
should " earnestly contend for the faith which was 
once delivered unto the saints ? " And would not the 
Apostle Peter have all believers "always ready to 
give to every man that asketh a reason of the hope " 



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that is in them 7 — And as for the opposition between 
truth and charity, does not St. Paul expressly say 
that " charity rejoiceth in the truth?" Yea, more, 
while it is written in one place that "the Lord is a 
God of truth," is it not in another place recorded that 
" God is love ? " And does not the Apostle, in the 
text, by a most beautiful and happy touch, dispel this 
cloud of error and delusion, by blending both in one, 
exhorting all Christians to be "no more children, 
carried about with every wind of doctrine, but speak- 
ing the truth ix love, to grow up into him in all 
things, who is the head, even Christ ? " 

This most expressive stroke of the Apostle's gra- 
phic pencil, while it describes the conversation which, 
at all times, and in all places, is incumbent on the 
Christian, — to speak the truth in love, — most happily 
defines, as it appears to me, the course which it be- 
comes the Church, in setting forth her principles 
and claims, whether by her proper authorities, or in 
the person of her ministers and individual members, 
steadily to pursue. It is the course, permit me to 
say, my reverend and beloved brethren, which thus 
far she has steadily pursued, and which has gained 
for her so extensively the praise of moderation, and 
true Christian charity. And if a motto were to be 
selected to express the tone and spirit of her offices, 
and articles, and all her public documents, " speaking 
the truth in love," would be the fittest and most just. 



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It is the duty of Christians, and most especially of 
Christian Ministers, to speak the truth always, and to 
speak the truth always in love. 

I. i. To speak the truth, is, in the first place, to 
assert nothing which is not true. The Bible is 
the standard of the truth. " Sanctify them," says 
Jesus, "through the truth; thy word is truth." 
Here is the rule, then, of doctrine and of duty. To 
this unerring test, all doubtful and disputed questions 
must be brought ; and none may go beyond the word 
of the Lord his God, to say less or more. On this 
subject the Church is most explicit. " Holy Scrip- 
ture," she says, in her sixth Article, " containeth all 
things necessary to salvation ; so that whatsoever is 
not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not 
to be required of any man, that it should be believed 
as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or 
necessary to salvation." And again, in the form of 
ordering of Priests, she asks, "are you persuaded 
that the holy Scriptures contain all doctrine required 
as necessary for eternal salvation, through faith in 
Jesus Christ? And are you determined, out of the 
said Scriptures, to instruct the people committed to 
your charge, and to teach nothing as necessary to 
eternal salvation but that which you shall be per- 
suaded may be concluded and proved by the Scrip- 
ture ? " To which the candidate is expected to re- 
ply, " I am so persuaded, and have so determined by 



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God's grace.'' The question indeed may arise, as to 
what the Scripture saith. For satisfaction on that 
point. God has established no infallible authority. 
Even if he had, it would be of no avail, unless he had 
also enabled all men infallibly to understand its deci- 
sions. We are left therefore to the diligent compari- 
son of Scripture, bringing in aid the best lights of 
philology and history, and regarding as always the 
safest interpretation that which had earliest and most 
general acceptance, — which has come down to us in 
the keeping of the Church from the earliest and purest 
days, and combined most fully the requisites of an 
ancient rule of interpretation, in being received " al- 
ways, every where, and by all."* Not to be omitted 
in connection with all these, is the exercise of a hum- 
ble, candid and obedient spirit, earnestly seeking the 
aid of God's grace in the interpretation of his word ; 
and striving always to appropriate that blessed pro- 
mise of the Saviour, " If any man will do his will, 
he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God." 

ii. To speak the truth is, in the second place, to 
proclaim all that is true. This is as necessary as the 
former. The truth of God is perfect and entire, 
wanting nothing, and with nothing superfluous. 



* The celebrated maxim of Vincentius Lirinensis — " Quod semper, quod 
ubique, quod ab omnibus creditum est." Among the revived treasures of the 
olden time for which we are indebted to the learning and piety of Oxford, is a 
very recent edition of his valuable Commonitory. 



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" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and 
is profitable for doctrine, for correction, for reproof, 
for instruction in righteousness." The distinction 
which men presume to make between essentials and 
non-essentials is, as regards God's word, a false and 
dangerous distinction. Who shall presume to pro- 
nounce what he has spoken non-essential ? Is it not 
written, " he that keepeth the whole law, and yet 
ofFendeth in one point, is guilty of all?" What to 
our feeble vision may seem unimportant, he beholds, 
with its vast train of consequences, reaching through 
eternity. That he hath written it, is for us sufficient 
argument of its importance. He hath spoken, as he 
hath done, nothing in vain. Though it were the 
tithing but of mint, and anise, and cumin, when con- 
trasted with judgment, and mercy, and faith, the 
Saviour's sentence was, " these things ye ought to do, 
and not to leave the other undone." " For thus it 
becometh us," in imitation of the same divine Pat- 
tern, "to fulfil all righteousness." 

It is in her firm adherence to what some are 
pleased to call the non-essentials of religion, that a 
distinctive feature of the Church consists. In her 
noble testimony to the great doctrines of the Gospel 
— the lost and guilty state of man by nature ; the in- 
tervention, for his deliverance from it, of the divine, 
eternal Son, for our sakes becoming man ; the 
expiation of all sin by the offering of his precious 



blood ; our interest in it, and consequent justification 
before God, the fruit, through grace, of faith in its 
atoning merit; the progressive sanctification of the sin- 
ner, thus justified by faith, through the power of the di- 
vine Spirit — in regard to all these, she is justly recog- 
nized by all who love the Lord Jesus as a most faith- 
fur' witness and keeper of Holy Writ." In her tena- 
cious maintenance of that three-fold ministry, which 
Christ as certainly established as he taught at all ; in 
her adherence in all things to the order of the Apos- 
tles ; in her stedfast preference, to any occasional effort 
of devotion, of that venerable form of words, to which 
primitive piety gave utterance, and which uninter- 
rupted use has hallowed and endeared — she is regard- 
ed, by not a few who name the name of Christ, as su- 
perstitious, formal and exclusive. But the charge is 
wholly groundless. None of these things are con- 
trary to God's word. Most of them are of his ex- 
press appointment. All of them are important, as 
parts of that system by which saving truth is to be 
preserved and extended in the earth. The system so 
constructed has, from the Apostles' times, continued to 
accomplish, with less of variation than can be found 
in any other institution in which fallen man has part, 
the purposes for which it was established. The 
warning voice of history, the visible evidences that 
meet us on every side of strife, misrule, and gross 
perversion of the truth, admonish us that none have 



departed from it but to their own sad hindrance. 
Uninfluenced then by opposition, and undismayed 
by censure, we cling to the truth and order of the 
Gospel, as things which God hath joined, and man must 
never separate. We maintain the Cross within the 
Church, because it was so that Christ ordained that 
it should stand ; because it was so that Apostles and 
old saints proclaimed it, and contended for it with 
their blood ; and because it is only so that it ever has 
been and, as we believe, can ever be maintained, in 
its integrity and divine simplicity. 

iii. Upon all these subjects the Church, and all her 
ministers, and all her members, that they may speak 
the truth as it is in Jesus, must speak with per- 
fect plainness, and entire sincerity. They are " set 
for the defence of the Gospel," and they must de- 
fend it in the way which the Lord ordained for its 
defence. They have no right to keep back any 
thing. Like faithful stewards, they must rightly di- 
vide the word of truth. They must proclaim, as fer- 
vent Paul proclaimed, "the whole counsel of God." 
They go to bear out before dark and erring men the 
light which is to cheer and save them. To what 
purpose, if they leave it unprotected, to be deadened 
by the damps of indifference, or extinguished by the 
blasts of error? They go to reveal to a misguided 
world the truth which can alone reclaim and save it. 

To what purpose if it be left to be thrown down and 

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trampled under foot! Let them place the light with- 
in the candlestick, that it may give light to all that 
are in the house. Let them set the truth up high, 
upon the ground and pillar which the Lord appoint- 
ed, that it may be seen and known of men, and be 
preserved from every harm. Let them preach 
" Christ crucified," indeed, the sinner's only hope, 
the single rescue of a world that lies in wickedness, 
the blighted victim of God's righteous indignation 
against sin. But let them preach him in the Church, 
which he purchased with his own blood, in which he 
would have all men to be gathered together and fed, 
of which he is now the Prince and Saviour, and 
which in his own good time he will translate from 
earth to heaven, that there may be "one fold, under 
one Shepherd." Not to do so, is to mock with cruel 
disappointment the world's last hope. Not to do so, 
is to frustrate the purposes of God, and make the 
Cross of Jesus ineffectual in the salvation of sinners. 
Go, follow it through the world. Go to Germany, 
go to Switzerland, go to the Puritan pulpits of Great 
Britain, and come back with the pilgrim fathers to 
the shores of our own New England. Where was 
the Cross of Jesus ever planted with a purer purpose 
of devotion, or defended with a self-sacrifice more 
generous and unreserved? By whom, since the 
Apostles' times, has il Christ crucified " ever been 
proclaimed, as" the sole hope of sinners, with a zeal 



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more fervent, or a sterner disregard of compromise ? 
And in how many of those pulpits is that precious 
doctrine now even so much as named ? And what, 
to the descendants of those unshrinking witnesses of 
Jesus, is his Cross now become, but, as " to the 
Greeks, foolishness," and, as "to the Jews, a stum- 
bling block ? " Do you ask, why ? I will not under- 
take to answer. But this I say — and I commend 
the subject to your most candid consideration — 
where the order of the Apostles has been preserved 
with the truth of the Apostles, there has been no 
such fearful exhibition ; where the Cross of the Lord 
Jesus Christ has been preserved in the Church of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, it has suffered no such degrada- 
tion. Let the instructive lesson have its proper in- 
fluence with your hearts. Let not the unmeaning 
charge of bigotry remove you from your steadfast- 
ness. From the good "old paths " in which our fathers 
walked, and found rest for their souls, let us be dri- 
ven by no alarm, nor lured by any temptation. 
Thankful to Him who has so called us to the know- 
ledge of the truth, and so kept us in its enjoyment, 
let us evince our gratitude by our firm adherence to 
its instructions, and by our endeavours to proclaim it 
to the world — by making our "light so shine before 
men, that they may see our good works, and glorify 
our Father who is in heaven." 

II. To do this, it will not be sufficient that we 



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speak the whole truth, that we speak the whole truth 
plainly. We must speak the truth in love. Men 
are naturally suspicious of those who have, or claim 
to have, advantages superior to themselves. A zeal- 
ous and firm attachment to distinctive principles is 
very apt to be denounced as bigotry : and he who, 
from whatever conviction of duty and of conscience, 
refuses compromise with error, must expect to be set 
down as arrogant and exclusive. And it should 
frankly be conceded, that the conscious possessor of 
superior advantages, — and it holds in no case more 
frequently than in the enjoyment of peculiar religi- 
ous privileges, — does live continually in danger, if he 
keep not his heart humble before God, of becoming 
arrogant and exclusive. Now the suspicion of these 
things, and much more their reality, is a most effec- 
tual hindrance to the truth. To prevent men from 
entertaining them in any degree, is not within our 
power. Divest ourselves of them, and greatly dimin- 
ish the suspicion of them in others, by the help of 
the heavenly grace, we may. The fact that the 
mistrust in us, as Churchmen, of an exclusive spirit 
in the profession of our distinctive principles, and of 
an uncharitable consideration of those who differ 
from us, hinders very many from their fair consider^ 
arion, should make us doubly anxious,— first, to 
dispossess ourselves of the evil, and then, to avoid 
even the appearance of it. The specific in both cases 



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is love. To speak the truth acceptably and effectu- 
ally, it must be spoken in love. 

i. For, in the first place, this should be with 
Churchmen the only and sufficient motive to under- 
take the office, and discharge the duties of champions 
of the truth. It is not, and it cannot be, with sinful 
men a grateful office, nor are its duties light or easy. 
The truth, from the corruption of our nature, will 
seldom be acceptable. Did we not love mens' souls, 
then, and know that the truth is necessary to their 
salvation, why should we incur their displeasure, 
and become their enemies by proclaiming it to them ? 
Let us look well, my Christian brethren, that this be 
indeed our motive. Though we give all our goods 
to feed the poor, and yield up our bodies to be burned 
as martyrs for the truth, without charity, it can nei- 
ther honour God, nor be profitable to ourselves. But 
if love be indeed the principle that rules our hearts, 
if whatever we do in the defence or the dissemina- 
tion of the truth be done as disciples of the Saviour, in 
his name and for his glory, then let us count no effort 
great, no sufferings hard, no loss severe, so that we 
may approve ourselves his followers, faithful unto 
death. Then, like the illustrious harbinger, who 
heralded the coming of the Lord, let us, in God's 
name, "constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke 
vice and patiently suffer for the truth's sake ; "* and, 



* Collect for St. John Baptist's Day. 



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like that holy martyr Stephen, who was the first to 
shed his blood in honour of the glorified Redeemer, 
let us "in all our sufferings here on earth for the tes- 
timony of the truth, look steadfastly up to heaven, by 
faith beholding the glory that shall be revealed, and 
learn like him to love and bless our persecutors.''* 

ii. But, secondly, as love must be the motive, so 
must love direct the manner in which we speak the 
truth — "speaking the truth in love." This is our 
bounden duty. We are not the judges of our bre- 
thren, whom we deem in error, but fellow-servants 
with them of a common Lord. What have we to do 
then with condemnation, or with denunciation ? How 
dare we indulge in censure or reproach? To pro- 
claim steadily and constantly, having always due re- 
gard to all the several proprieties of time and place 
and person, what we believe the truth ; to be ready 
always to give the reason of our hope with meekness 
and in fear ; to supply whatever means we have for 
the instruction and conviction of others ; to add to 
all our arguments the powerful confirmation of a 
pure, benevolent and holy life; and, by continual 
prayer, to ask God's blessing, "without which nothing 
is strong, nothing is holy," upon our "work and la- 
bour that proceedeth of love" — this is the conduct 
which, as Christian champions, valiant for the truth 
upon the earth, it becomes us to adopt and to pursue. 



* Collect for St. Stephen's Day. 




And, as this is the only right, so it is the safest and 
the most effectual way. Of doubts, of difficulties, of 
prejudices, of enmities, true Christian love is the 
great universal solvent. Many there are who would 
not brook a word's reproof, who, at the slightest sem- 
blance of compulsion or constraint, are ready to resist 
even unto blood, who yet, on the conviction fixed 
upon the heart that you love their souls, may be 
led by you through fire and water, and even to the 
gates of death. When the Almighty and All-wise 
would win an entrance into the world for the myste- 
rious scheme of human redemption, the inscription 
which was graven on its front was in these touching 
words, " for God so loved the world." The blessed 
Jesus, that he might reclaim, instruct and save them, 
approved himself by gentle words and condescending 
manners, even among Pharisees and publicans, who 
hated and reviled him, " the friend of sinners." And 
the Supreme Disposer of all things on earth and in 
heaven, though the hearts of men are in his hand, as 
the rivers of water, to turn them as he will, does not 
eontroi them, as he might, by his great power, but 
draws them to himself with " the cords of a man," 
and moulds them to his will by the persuasive gentle- 
ness of love. 

My reverend brethren, in our intercourse with 
men whom we would gain to know and do the truth, 
let us be guided by these great and beautiful exam- 



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pies. Speak the truth always in love. In kindness 
and condescension, esteem others better than your- 
selves. While you deal plainly with their errors, deal 
gently with their souls. Remember Him who would 
not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking 
flax. Make them in love, by your own meek and 
gentle exhibition of them, with the truths which you 
possess. Forgiving when there is need of forgive- 
ness, and forbearing when there is need of forbear- 
ance, you will but follow his example who bears 
with you yet daily. You will soften the hard heart. 
You will overcome evil with good. You will gain 
your erring brother. Should you fail there, there is 
at leart one conquest that you will not lose. You 
will have ruled your own spirit, and gained the vic- 
tory over yourselves. 

My reverend brother,* whom we purpose now, 
God willing, to elevate unto that "good degree," 
which Paul holds out, for the encouragement of them 
who use the office of a Deacon well, you have not 
failed to lay to your own heart the solemn exhorta- 
tion now delivered to the ministers of Jesus Christ, to 
speak the truth in love. You will not, I am well 



* The Rev. William Croes Crane, deacon, Missionary, Minister of St, Paul's 
Church, Clinton ; Calvary Church, Flemington ; and St. Thomas' Church, 
Alexandria, was admitted to the order of the Priesthood, in presence of the Con- 
vocation. 



17 



persuaded, cease your care and diligence, by con- 
stant study and by faithful prayer, to approve your- 
self an "able minister of the New Testament," "a 
workman that needeth not to be ashamed." You 
never will forget, I fondly trust, the awful weight of 
that responsibility which is now to rest upon you in 
full measure — the care of souls. The care of never 
dying souls, for which the Lord Jesus shed his pre- 
cious blood ! Dear brother, who is sufficient for these 
things ? Who is sufficient for the salvation of his own 
soul? Who would noi; faint and fall, appalled and 
prostrate, even at the thought of such a charge, if 
upon his wisdom only, or on his sole strength, the 
care of souls relied ? But, blessed be God, our suffi- 
ciency is not our own, but God's who seeth the heart ! 
Blessed be God, not on our righteousness, but on the 
forgiveness of our unrighteousness, for the sake of 
Jesus Christ our Lord, do we presume to hope for 
pardon and acceptance and salvation ! Blessed be 
God, the Saviour who died that he might ransom all 
the souls that were, and make them doubly his, has 
promised ever to be present with those to whom he left 
their sacred charge : and, by the mighty power of 
that divine and Holy Spirit which he purchased for 
us with his blood, sustain them in their humble ef- 
forts to make manifest the knowledge of his Cross, 
prepare the heart to feel and own its gracious, sanc- 
tyifng savour, diffuse through all the life the preci- 



18 



ous fragrance of humility and holiness and charity, 
and, working in and with all those who will receive 
him, both to will and to do the things which are ac- 
ceptable to him, enable them by grace through faith 
to make their calling and election sure. Be of good 
cheer, then, brother. In the great and arduous work 
which you here undertake this day, the Lord him- 
self is with you. The souls for which you are to 
watch are his. The reconciling word by which you 
are to win them back from sin and death to holiness 
and heaven are his. The grace from heaven which 
is to lend its unction to your teaching, and imbue 
your prayers with fervour, and shed the beauty and 
the power of holiness on all your life, is his. Nay, 
you yourself are his. He will not fail his own. He 
will not cast away his people that come bending to 
him, in penitence and tears. He will not leave his 
ministering servants, who are faithful unto him in 
all his house, without full proof of their acceptance, 
in souls renewed to holiness, and turned from sin to 
God. Be strong in the Lord, then, and in the power 
of his might. Look unto Jesus, as the Author and 
Finisher of the work which he has given you to 
do. Pour out your heart before him in daily and 
continual supplication, that he deal not with his 
people after their sins, nor reward them according to 
their iniquities. He will hear your prayer, and your 
cry shall come acceptably before him. He bore on 



19 



earth the contradiction of sinners, that he might be 
touched with the feeling of our trials, and be moved 
with compassion for our infirmities. Melted and 
moved yourself with the remembrance of his humili- 
ation and agony and death, present him ever to the 
people of your care, as crucified for their transgres- 
sions. Refer them always to his precious blood, poured 
out upon the Cross, as the sole source to them of par- 
don and of peace, of pureness and salvation. The 
bleeding Lamb, whose sorrows melt and move your 
heart, will be effectual with them. They will look un- 
to hirn whom they have pierced. The blessed Jesus, 
lifted up from the earth, will draw them, willing cap- 
tives, to the power of his constraining love. The 
savour of his knowledge, made manifest by you in 
every place, will imbue their souls with its celestial 
fragrance, renew their hearts, and sanctify their lives. 
God will cause you to triumph in Christ. And the 
sweet savour of the Gospel which you preach — 
God forbid that through impenitence and unbelief it 
should approve itself to any the savour of death unto 
death ! — will be, in all those who believe, the savour 
of life unto eternal life. May God mercifully grant 
it, for the sake of Jesus Christ his Son ! 



THERE WILE COME A TIME 
WHEN THREE WORDS UT- 
TERED "WITH CHARITT AND 
MEEKNESS, SHAEE RECEIVE 
A FAR MORE BLESSED RE- 
WARD THAN THREE THOU- 
SAND VOLUMES, WRITTEN 
WITH DISDAINFUL SHARP- 
NESS OF WIT. HOOKER. 



